1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information designating system which designates process control, and which is applicable to a wide variety of process controls mainly in a flexible manufacturing line in a manufacturing factory, and a method for designating the process control in said system.
2. Description of Related Arts
Here, a printing process in packing and shipping lines for cosmetic containers or food containers will be exemplified and described as a typical flexible manufacturing line. In the packing and shipping lines for cosmetic containers or food containers, a prescribed number of the packed products are encased in a unit box (small box), and a prescribed number of the unit boxes are encased in a transporting box (large box), which will be shipped. The unit box and the transporting box in which the products are encased are subjected to prescribed printing including a packing ID, a lot number, and/or name of manufacturer. As just mentioned, since the printing process is executed subsequent to the packing process or encasing process of the products, a plurality of printing presses (printers) are distributed near the packing machine(s) and the encasing machine(s). Each of the printers individually carry out printing processes based on a prescribed printing mode which defines designed letters and patterned images to be printed, printing positions, sizes, colors thereof and the like.
In the case of the process control of the printers installed in a distributed manner, there is a possibility that setting errors will occur if the control data which defines the printing mode is set for a control apparatus which controls the actuation of respective printers. For this reason, a system has hitherto been constructed in which a server system unifying respective apparatuses is installed in the system and the control data to control respective control apparatuses is set all at once from the server.
However, in the case of products such as cosmetic containers and food containers manufactured in flexible manufacturing lines, new kinds of products will be often added within a relatively short period of time. Also, in such a case, due to shipping control such as increasing the number of products, printers and/or control units are often added. When the set conditions in the printing process are modified or equipment is added, various settings in the server system should be modified according to the change in the conditions etc. These modifications involve for example rewriting the designating program for controlling the printing mode, resetting of numbers for identifying the products and the printing mode for the kinds of the products, leading to the problems in terms of complicated handling, increased man-hours, and increased costs.